


skin in craters like the moon

by lilhex



Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: (but you cant tell its mutual bc its reki pov but we know it is), Episode: s01e06 Steamy Mystery Skating?!, Gay Panic, Intricate Rituals, M/M, Missing Scene, Mutual Pining, POV Kyan Reki, Sunburn, actually bc lorde says so in her songs (her lyrics make all of my writing decisions for me), canadian stereotypes (langa has never seen the sun), langa has acne because i say so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 15:41:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29860338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilhex/pseuds/lilhex
Summary: the scene where reki helps langa with sunscreen from episode 6 bones does not want you to know about.
Relationships: Hasegawa Langa/Kyan Reki
Comments: 18
Kudos: 177





	skin in craters like the moon

**Author's Note:**

> hello sk8r bois (gender neutral) hope you enjoy :)
> 
> title taken from the song team by lorde. because of course it is.

Langa has such soft skin.

And he has the all-Canadian blissful ignorance to the existence of sunscreen to thank for that discovery – had it not been for Langa getting sunburned ( _Have you never heard of sunscreen before going to the beach!_ Reki had scolded / _I had not heard much of the sun or going to the beach_ Langa had countered in a calm monotone) Reki would still be a man living in the dark. A man who had never known how soft Langa’s skin is.

“Here,” he says now, sitting back next to him, sunscreen bottle fetched from his bag.

Langa takes the bottle in as if it is an alien object.

“Here,” Reki uncaps it and spreads some cream on his fingers. “You gotta spread it on yourself. Like this.”

He reaches out and touches the other boy’s shoulder; Langa flinches at the contact with the cold cream, and Reki flinches at the contact with Langa’s skin.

“ _Oh_ ,” they say at the same time. Reki risks looking up for a reaction and finds pale blue eyes looking back at him, as earnest and serious as ever.

 _Abort! Abort!_ Reki frantically looks back down, fingers still pressed softly against Langa’s skin. _Do something before this turns weird!_

It seems like the only thing left to do is to keep demonstrating. The demonstration in question, unfortunately, involves a great deal of skin on skin contact.

“Here,” Reki goes on, voice trembling only a little, “you spread it, like this.”

His fingers circle around Langa’s shoulder, tracing the curve of it and the beginning of this collarbone. Sunscreen runs thin, and soon it’s just fingertips against skin. He has traced dangerously close to his neck, now, and Langa sits very still.

“Well,” Reki says, lifting his hand up but leaving it to float inches from Langa’s skin. “That’s about the main idea.”

In the water, unlikely alliances have formed for the sake of the world’s most unconventional shoulder wars. None of the allies seem particularly content with their situation; Miya on top of Shadow’s shoulders has not stopped complaining about how unfair the arrangements are, while his opponent refuses to fight on top of _a gozilla’s shoulders_ and simply balances there, arms crossed, while Joe begs of him to move.

Under the umbrella, Langa accepts the bottle from Reki.

“So I’m supposed to do that everywhere?”

“Uh, yeah, unless you want to get it even worse than you already do.”

“Um,” Langa hesitates, studying the bottle, “what about … my back?”

 _Oh right_.

“Oh. Yeah, I guess I can do that for you.”

Langa sets to covering his arms, torso, and legs, while Reki pretends to watch the shoulder wars in the water. He praises himself for stealing only a single glance here and there, and then, too soon, Langa is handing him the bottle and saying _I’ve done everything I could reach_.

He turns to his friend to find Langa’s back facing him.

 _Right_. _You can do this_.

There is simply too much skin to be covered. And all of it – all of it – pale, and entirely too soft, interrupted only by tiny pimples and beauty marks that tickle his fingertips.

It does not help that Langa stays silent and very still and says nothing while Reki runs sunscreen-covered hands over his back.

It’s not like Reki has never done this before; he always helps his sisters with sunscreen. But this is different. He finds himself avoiding a good few inches above the waistband of Langa’s swimsuit _(he won’t get a sunburn there, it’s_ fine _)_ ; and he finds himself fighting the urge to softly massage Langa’s shoulders; and he finds himself tracing Langa’s skin with just his fingertips, sunscreen application long forgotten.

“Um,” Reki stammers, coming to his senses, pulling fingers back but leaving them hanging just above Langa’s skin, like before. “You’re good, now.”

“Thank you,” Langa says simply, ever composed, and turns back to face him.

“Shall we go in the water now too?” he asks. In the distance, the shoulder wars are still raging on.

“Yeah, let’s go destroy the- wait, you haven’t done your face!” Reki catches sight of the redness on Langa’s cheeks, and grabs the sunscreen bottle again.

“Oh,” Langa says softly.

“Here,” Reki says, sunscreen already on his hand.

 _Wait. He can do that himself,_ a little voice screams, ringing the alarm in his head, _this will be weird._

Instead of making a move for the bottle, however, Langa simply closes his eyes and waits.

 _Oh_.

“Okay,” Reki says reassuringly, mainly for himself to hear.

He rubs his hands together to spread the cream and then reaches for Langa’s face.

Langa barely flinches at first contact, at the fingertips on his cheeckbones.

_His cheeckbones._

Reki, tenderly, draws parallel lines under Langa’s eyes. And then down his cheeks. Around his mouth. _His mouth._ Soft bumps of pimples interrupt his way about Langa’s skin, tickling Reki’s fingertips pleasantly. He is close enough he could reach down and kiss the tip of his nose. Instead, he covers it with sunscreen before he goes ahead and does something stupid.

He pushes Langa’s hair aside with the back of his hand and thumbs some sunscreen on Langa’s forehead. And he lets the icy blue hair fall back into place and he pulls away, not letting his fingers linger nearby this time.

“All ready,” he says.

Langa does not pull back and does not open his eyes.

“Do I look all white and weird?” he asks.

Reki takes the moment he is given to take in his handiwork, and that face. The sunscreen has not absorbed yet and Langa’s acne looks like white little dots, like a galaxy spread out across his face.

“Not really. You look,” he says, “like an ice prince.”

**Author's Note:**

> comments are always much appreciated <3
> 
> you can find me on tumblr @hippolvte!


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